The sentencing was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Craig Goldberg, Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John G. McKenzie and Scott R. Paccagnini.

According to a written plea agreement, Fendler obtained bank account information from businesses and individuals who had applied for insurance policies through Fendler’s companies. Using the victims’ bank account information, without authorization, Fendler used on-line services to create fictitious electronic checks purportedly issued by the victims and payable to Fender’s companies. Fendler deposited those fictitious checks into bank accounts he controlled and then kept those funds for his own purposes. Fendler also made unauthorized electronic withdrawals from his clients’ bank accounts and the bank accounts of insurance agents and agencies that Fendler did business with, and then kept those funds for his own purposes.